May 27, 2016

Happy days are here again

The only no-hitter I was officially involved in was 18 years ago, my debut as a manager of 12-13 year olds. Opening Day was rained out, so we made it up on a Tuesday evening. I had identified 4 players as pitchers, and my choice to start the opener was a traveling-team athlete whose father was my assistant. We scored early and often, and won 10-0 in a 5-inning slaughter-rule game. My ace faced 19 hitters striking out 15, with 3 walks and an error accounting for the only baserunners. He had a great slider developed working with his dad and also threw strikes on command with his technique that was ahead of the rec-ball level players he was facing. No one could hit his slider, and it was such a dominant performance I left that night thinking if we didnt win the league title with this guy, it would be the longest summer of my life. Good thing my dream came true 2 months later.

And good thing Boo let her catcher know she was throwing a knuckler, which catchers all hate b/c nobody ever knows where its going, even the pitcher. It was effective, as it fooled the hitter who was looking dead red again. Major leaguers are so used to fastballs in the 90’s that a knuckleball just messes up their timing, sometimes for days.

Otherwise no advancement of the plot, as we still have to wait for the DUI verdict and the boys still talking about how long the sentence will be.

It’s actual action. I’ll take it. Perhaps this could lead to a Boo based storyline about how all of a sudden the Wake Forest Softball coach realizes he/she can maybe get a great prospect if only that prospect can be talked out of going to a ‘big’ school. That might be interesting. Instead, we will probably get treated to more of how intergenerational Bader family dysfunction combined with a just-so inclusion of the hanging judge who turns out to be Ken’s mom impacts the boys team.